Your Baby’s Health and Checks
From your newborn’s first examination to their hearing screening, find out what health checks your baby will have in their first days and weeks.
Newborn Screening
All newborn babies are screened for a range of health conditions shortly after their birth. Screening for all these conditions is strongly recommended, but it is not mandatory. If a baby has one of the conditions, the long-term benefit of screening with early treatment is much greater than the small discomfort they feel when the blood sample is taken.
Two Types of Newborn Screening Available
Newborn screening includes the Heel Prick Test, which checks for six medical conditions, and the Newborn Hearing Screening, which checks for hearing loss in one or both ears. Both are carried out shortly after birth, ideally before your baby goes home from hospital.
Bloodspot Screening (Heel Prick Test)
All babies born in Ireland are screened for six medical conditions soon after birth. Newborn screening for Phenylketonuria (PKU) started in Ireland in February 1966 — Ireland was one of the first countries in the world to have a national screening programme. Cystic Fibrosis was added in July 2011, and more conditions will be added in the future.
Conditions currently screened for:
- Phenylketonuria (PKU)
- Homocystinuria
- Maple Syrup Urine Disease
- Classical Galactosaemia
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Congenital Hypothyroidism
The Newborn Bloodspot Screening Test is done between 72 hours and 120 hours after your baby is born. A public health nurse or midwife will prick your baby’s heel using a special device to collect a few drops of blood onto a special card.
Newborn Hearing Screening
The HSE Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme is available nationwide for all babies. One to two babies in every 1,000 born in Ireland are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears. Most babies born with a hearing loss are born into families with no history of hearing loss, so it is important to screen all babies as early as possible.
The hearing screen ideally takes place before your baby goes home from hospital. A trained Screener carries out an automated hearing screen, usually while the baby is settled or sleeping at the mother’s bedside. Babies discharged before the screen can be offered an appointment to complete the screen at an Outpatients Clinic.
Any baby who does not have a clear response from the screen will be seen for a full audiological (hearing) assessment at a HSE Audiology Clinic.